Spirit of Truth/The Bible on Trial

Memorial Day~ When you hear the word 'Remember' what comes to mind? All of us carry a myriad of memories in our minds, both the good and the bad. For my wife Becky, her 'happy place' is found at Hume Lake in Sequoia National Park. There she has compiled the most fun, enjoyable and lovely memories of any that she has (by her own words), because it is there that our family has, from time to time, met to enjoy a week of relaxation away from the world. There is NO TV or WIFI internet (unless you pay for it, and then it is only available near the administration building). During the day there is kayaking or paddle-boarding on the lake, hiking around the lake, or traveling to Moro Rock, or Crescent Meadow. For Becky, and really for the rest of us, it is as close to heaven as we can get here on earth. Think of the most beautiful memoty you have, and imagine that memory living in real life in the earth made new. We memorialize that which is important to us, but sometimes that memory can be painful, even if it ends by being productive in our growth toward righteousness. We memorialize not only the birth of Jesus, but also His death on the cross. We read His words as remembered by His own eyewitness disciples, and we also read words that we have been told are true because they are in the Bible, but when put to the test of truth they fall short. Remembering can be both beautiful and dangerous, and it is up to us to make the right decision as to which is which.

Risk Taker~ There are those in this world that need a rush of adrenaline from time to time in order to feel alive. These are the ones that seek to test themselves on the black diamond runs on the ski slopes (the most difficult terrain on the hill), or take the bike (motorcycle) out and do a high speed ride on a winding mountain road. They might like to climb into a sailplane and fly without power into a thermal that will carry them into the sky, or put on a wet suit and strap on air tanks and SCUBA dive to a 120 feet on a sunken wreck. They might love to free climb a rock face, or bungie jump from a high flying hot air balloon, just for fun! And when 'normal' humans look at these people they call them 'risk takers', because they are willing and able to do things that these people just don't understand. Yet for these risk takers it is really not about having an adrenaline high that motivates them, it is about learning how to CONTROL the adrenaline responce so you can perform your best even under extreme pressure and not let that moment overwhelm you.  Risk Taking is about not avoiding trying and scary situations, but knowing and accepting that you have worked hard enough, learned long enough, done well enough, all with patient endurance, such that when you are tested you will have the WILL, SKILL, and FORTITUDE to pass the test. 'Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." Rev. 3:10. 'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.' Rev. 3:21.

WDJT~ When I was a boy I was an ardent baseball fan, and as a function of that love for the game I became caught up in the fad of collecting and trading baseball cards. Today, I don't even remember the names of the players on the cards, but I do remember the joy I had in having the ability to trade them with my friends, and collect them. My son collected bottle caps, and my daughter collected Beany Babies. All of these things were 'fads'. A few years ago a 'fad' in the Christian church was wearing a bracelet or a pin with the letters "WWJD" on them; this was an acronym for "What Would Jesus Do". Books were written on how to live your life based on what you thought Jesus would do in any situation, and this was supposed to bring you closer to the Lord in every aspect of your life. Every time you came upon a situation that was unfamiliar all you had to do was ask the question "What Would Jesus Do" and the answer would come to you. Or it wouldn't. And that is why that particular 'fad' did not last very long. The basic premise was that the close you became to Jesus, the more 'like' Jesus you became, the more you would know about how to deal with all of the issues of life. This did not prove to be true, and so WWJD became a thing of the past. What would make a difference in the lives of believers would be to know "What Did Jesus Teach". Knowing WDJT, as opposed to what others SAID about what He taught, would make a huge difference in how people would approach the idea of becoming Righteous. By learning what Jesus taught to His own eyewitness disciples we can learn how to do what the angel told Daniel: Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand. Dan.12:10.

What do you say? I work part time at a family owned hardware store with a national identity, and my customers are locals from all walks of life. My role at the store is a floor sales associate, and I am able to help customers find what they are looking for, even if they don't know exactly what that is. Given my penchant for loving to have fun, I will include a little entertainment or gentle humor as I go through the process of finding out what they want and walking them through the purchasing process. Often, the line of questioning that defines what they are looking for also allows people to open up to me about all sorts of topics that are just langentially related to finding the right bolt and nut that they need for their home project, which can include their children or grand-children, their work, or for some, even their spiritual life. The other day the pastor of the local Greek Orthodox church stopped in for some self-tapping screws, and somehow we began talking about the state of the world, and the lack of the recognition of spiritual truth that Jesus brought to earth. His view is exactly what we have been speaking of here at STM, and which he stated emphatically; that Jesus came to earth to die for our sins, and as long as we believe in Jesus we will be saved. I decided at that moment that this was not the time or place to go into the 'fire-hose' treatment, and explain the concept that Jesus came to earth to 'testify to the truth', and that you must be IN the Kingdom of Heaven to be saved. It was not the time or place. What I did was write our Web site on a piece of paper and told him that if he wants to know my perspective on how salvation works he can take a look at the site.  What I say to my customers when this kind of thing happens is that Jesus is seeking those for His Kingdom that Love and Practice the truth. And that is all I say.

Ask the Right Question, get the Right Answer~ I retired over three years ago as a teacher at a small private Christian school. I taught physial science and band (grade 5-12). One of the joys of teaching is seeing your students begin to question what they are being taught by their teachers. This rarely happens in the elementary grades, but it does happen more often as students enter and go through high school. As students came into my 9-12 grade band from elementary band I told them that their job in high school was to "prove their teachers wrong" in what they taught; that the only way they could do this was to "own the information and context" so that they KNEW what they had been taught was valid and verified. In other words, "Don't believe what your teachers tell you just because they tell you". To help students do this I invented a game that I played from time to time with all my band class, and also in classes in which I substituted. The game was called "Stump the Teacher". The purpose of the game was to teach the students HOW to ask a cogent quesion, so they could get a reliable answer from the teacher. The rules were simple: students could as the teacher (me) any question about any academic subject they were currently studying, or had studied in the past (no personal questions). If I did not know the answer the class got a point. If I knew the answer I got a point (which were tallied on the board).  There was one important condition; they had to know the answer to the question before they asked it, so they knew the I wasn't making up an answer just to fool them. They found this was more difficult than it looked, but it taught them HOW to ask the question in the right way, to get the right answer. To learn the truth you must first OWN it. Dig deep, turn over rocks, find the places where truth is hidding. Then you will know it. John 8:32.

No hiding from Truth~ You have heard the expression "You can run but you can't hide". It is a true statement, although people try to do it all the time. Just look at how many people try to run from the police while driving vehicles. There are at least two incidents each week where the local news helicopter focuses it's camera on a person fleeing from the police after a robbery or carjacking. I look at the coverage and wonder if these people really think they can outrun and outmaneuver a gaggle of police cars and air support and really get away. They are ALWAYS caught. This is also prevalent in the spiritual world as well. It is certaiinly much less overt. After all, if someone goes to church on a regular basis they do, at a basic level, believe that running from God is futile. Some people go to church feeling that when they do they will placate God into not looking to close at them, hoping that God will ignore the 'little' problems they have that identify them as 'sinners'. Others go out of a genuine sense of love; that God loves them so much that He would never be able to punish them for the 'small things' that heppen in everyday life that are a 'little disobedient'. They believe that "nothing can separate them from the love of God" because Jesus died for their sins. These people are running from God as surely as that person trying to escape the police by running from them. The result will be the same. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." John 3:20. If a person does not know the truth about salvation they are NOT saved. They may think that they are, but thinking and knowing are two different things. "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." John 3:21.

Windfall~ Winning the Lottery! This conjures up so many thoughts about how you could spend that money. Houses, cars, entertainment, travel, are all things that could enrich your life should 'win the lottery'. There is one statistic that is sobering in this regard; most lottery winners are broke after 10 years. This is sad but true. When people that have little get a lot they often end up right back where they were when 'fortune struck'. This is human nature, that when given a reward that is undeserved or unearned, that reward means as much as it cost to the person receiving it, i.e. nothing. And this failure falls primarily to motivation. Often the first thing that a person does when they win the lottery is that they quit their job. After all, why work when you can just go out and buy what you need, and not have to worry about a paycheck. For many, their identity is the predicate for who they are, and their identity falls on what they do more than who they are. The most fortunate of people are what they do. This is called 'vocation'. My father was a physician, but being a physician was not just WHAT he did, it was WHO he was. He LOVED helping people have a better life my helping them recover from disease. We (his children) had to finally pull the plug on his medical career when he was 85 years old, simply to give him the chance to know the joy of not working. Jesus was the ruler of the universe when He made His appearance on earth. Money cannot calculate His net worth, both in 'things' and in simply who He was. Being CREATOR/Savior is/was His vocation, it is who He is. He could have given up on us (the world) and simply started over had He been someone other than who He is. His motivation for doing what He did for His Kingdom was that He could not save His creation without bringing Truth to earth. If we are to be saved our vocation must be HIs.

One of my co-workers at the hardware store has an answer for the common question, "How are you doing today?" His answer, "Living the Dream!" My own answer for this question is, "Not too bad for someone of my age and temperament, and today it's not the age!" Both answers extend a certain joy for life that is reflected in the smiles of the customers to who they are given. As my mom used to say, "No one likes a sour puss!" It is my observation that those without a love for life reflect the situation that is in their minds (hearts) more than in their physical situation. Chronic pain is bad enough, but a chronic lack of joy is even worse. To become truly joyful can only be achieved by knowing the truth. We can be happy by believeing in things that seem to make us happy, but may or may not be true. Yet happiness and joy are NOT the same. God has not called us to simply be happy, but to be joyful. Joy relects an inner peace brought about by certainty that we KNOW God, and God Knows us. This is the joy of which Jesus spoke in John 17:13; "But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves." This joy comes from knowing God through the words that Jesus brought to us from heaven.  "Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You;  for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me." John 17:7-8.

Good Food~ "Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?" Matt. 24:45. Children love candy, and not just at holidays like Christmas and Halloween. If it was up to a child they would have candy for every meal, and snacks in betwee. The obvious reason for this is that they don't have the mental controls to know what is good for them and what isn't. It has been proven by the biological sciences that processed sugar acts as a poison. Even ants know to not eat sugar crystals. Yet if given a chance, a child would go wild in a candy store, and eat themselves sick. Even adults sometimes have difficutly with the concept that sugar is not good for you. A casual friend of mine is having trouble controling his A1-C levels simply because he continually makes excuses in his dicision making process when it come to candy. "Just one won't hurt me." The problem is 'one after another'. Faith is like candy to the spiritual. I sure tastes good. It looks SO good, and seems SO innocent, and 'just one' won't hurt, will it? The problem is identitcal to the old potatoe chip advertisment, "No one can eat just one". You eat a little 'faith' and then you want a little more, and then a little more. And soon you are no longer interested in the TRUTH of the matter, because all you want is more faith. When someone points out that you are not eating good spiritual food the initial reaction is always negative, "No, you're wrong. I am eating good food, it tastes so good." This is why when that Faithful and WISE servant presnts the 'good food' of truth it often falls on deaf ears. Yet the good food of truth is what your Intellect desires. You must decide to "Taste and see the Lord is good."  Ps. 34:8.

Take Your Medicine~ So I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. And he *said to me, "Take it and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey." " I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it, and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter." Rev. 10:9-10. My dad was a physician, and when I was young and got sick my dad would often bring me medicine to take that he said would make me feel better. One particularly awful experience was when my twin sister, Denise, and I both contracted the measles, and were basicaly quaranteened in bed for what seemed like a long time. The only thing that my dad said he could give us was a liquid that he said would help reduce the fever to a managable level; otherwise, we just had to wait it out. What that liquid was I do not know. In the '50s the only thing available was aspirin, as Tylenonl and IB had not yet been invented. All I know was that what dad gave us tasted AWFUL! This stuff was so bad that "A spoonful of sugar" would not have helped make that liquid taste better, so we took it anyway. All I know is that is did help us feel better. In the above text we see the opposite effect taking place; this 'medicine' tastes sweet in the mouth, but is unsettling in the stomach. What could cause this? When we first discover that we have been fooled into believing a lie as if it is the truth, what does that realization do? The LIE tasted good, but when it hits the 'stomach' it is a bitter pill. Lies always seem sweet, until you realize the affect they have on your spiritual life. Removing lies and replacing them with the TRUTH is always painful, and can be sickening. Yet when you go through the process of Sanctification and come out the other side you realize just how awful those lies were, and how sweet is the Truth.